A junior high school teacher in the Pangkep district of South Sulawesi has been reported to police by the local district chief for insulting him in a comment on Facebook, a report said on Thursday.

Budiman, 37, was reported by district chief Syamsuddin A. Hamid for calling him "the most stupid district head in Indonesia," in a comment posted to Facebook, the Kompas online portal reported. The comment that was deemed offensive was made on Monday and police detained Budiman the next day, following the report by Syamsuddin.

However, Pangkep Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Deni Hermana said that although the police had granted a request by Budiman's wife for a stay of detention, the man remained at the police station, citing fear of retaliation by Syamsuddin's supporters.

"Budiman is opting to stay at the district police station because he said he felt his life was in danger in connection with the Facebook status," Deni said.

Deni said the reason for granting the stay of detention was that keeping him in jail might disrupt the education process at the school where Budiman teaches. In return, local authorities had demanded that he periodically report to the police station.

In the comment, Budiman contrasted Syamsuddin with his late predecessor, Sjafruddin Nur, whom he said "would always be remembered, not like the current district chief, the most stupid district head in Indonesia."

Deni said Syamsuddin had actually already forgiven Budiman, but added that the report against the teacher had not yet been officially withdrawn.

"Therefore our investigators are in a dilemma. The legal process will go on, with the district chief as the plaintiff, unless the report is withdrawn.

"It is advisable that this case does not drag on as was with the case of Prita in Jakarta. The dispute should be settled in a family way, through restorative justice," Deni said.

The police chief was referring to the case of Prita Mulyasari, who was taken to court in 2009 after a private hospital reported her to authorities for saying disparaging things about the hospital's service in private e-mails to a couple of friends. The defamation case went viral on social networks and raised widespread public outrage and sympathy for Prita, including triggering a coin collection campaign to free her.

A guilty verdict handed down to Prita by a lower court was ultimately overruled by the Supreme Court in September 2012.

Based on the report to the police, Budiman could be charged with violating the 2008 Law on Electronic Information and Transactions and face up to six years in jail and a fine of up to Rp 1 billion ($103,000).

South Sulawesi Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Endi Sutendi said the stay of detention was based on instructions from the head of the South Sulawesi Police, Insp. Gen. Mudji Waluyo.